Thanks Jay! I'm feeling much better today. My order from sampletea came and that helped too. Hehe... oh how I love a box from the post office filled with tea and teawares! This is my first order from sampletea and I like them (mostly) I like the way they package their samples. There is a photo of the bing so you can keep it for your notes. Nice! I'm going to glue it in my teajournal next to my notes. Very helpful.

Today I'm drinking Tong Qing Hao 1980s. I know nothing about this tea but the age. First of all it's STRONG-- I put about 2.5g in a 40 ml pot, thinking I might add a bit morre later after it "thinned out" well I'm on the 15 infusion and it's still strong. Wow.

Now when that happens some wonder if it's fermented, or stored very wet. I don't think that's the case here. (tough I'm not expert enough to be certain about storage) It's bitter with the smell of very dry natural varnish (like the kind found in old book shelves) -- it's also rather sweet-- the sweetness and bitterness work together well.

I'm glad I bought two 10g samples. I think I'll get 8 sessions out of this tea... which is impressive. I wish I could have a whole cake. Well, my husband just got a raise so *he* can buy me one!

Now that I have first impressions I'm going to try and find out what others think. (I'm trying to avoid reviews before tasting teas, just buying different old sheng pu and seeing how I like them)

Also, today I started with 2006 CNNP Yunnan puer Raw from ebay(is it fake?) the bing is greenish and looks like it was stored wet-- but for such a young tea it is quite smooth. Almost too mild. Anyone else have thoughts on this one? I've been having it in place of coffee since it wakes me up. If a 2006 cake is mild will that mean it will go dead if it were aged 30 years? (I'm not going to find out, it will be drunk by me before that day ever comes... )

Swapping, I got a small amount of this & some other pu, including Tong Qing Hao from the 70s which I am drinking now. It has more body & stronger earthy flavor. I like this more & it alleviates the cold a bit.

I'm drinking 1970 Jiang Chen (river city) ... but it seems to be more bland than I remember it... not bad, just not as exciting... Maybe, it's because I made a big pot this time 150ml with about 6g of leaves?

2012 (2011)EOT's Bangwei 33 I remember liking this tea when I first got it. But not enough for its big price tag. But now it has come out of its shell and is really a solid tea. These leaves are very thick and rubbery.You can tell that these trees where happy. The qi was noticeable from the first infusion.